The Board found that a chronic right lower extremity disability, including arthritis, was not shown in service or within one year of discharge from service and it has not been shown by competent medical evidence to be related to the Veteran's active service.
The deciding factor: There is no medical evidence showing a chronic right ankle or foot disability during service or at the time of her discharge. The earliest documented complaints were in 1996, when she was seen for peripheral edema. Right knee strain with chondromalacia was diagnosed in 1998 but not related to the 1975 ankle sprain.
- Claimed conditions
- Right lower extremity disability, Arthritis
- How they argued it
- Direct service connection
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- March 12, 2012
- Citation
- 1209189
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 1209189.
What this means for you
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What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Dismissed
The Board dismissed the Veteran's claims for service connection of a right lower extremity disability and left lower extremity radiculopathy, as well as her eligibility for specially adapted housing. The decision also granted her eligibility for special home adaptation due to permanent total service-connected disabilities.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to a duty-to-assist error in previous examinations, requiring additional information on right shoulder ROM measurements without medication effects.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the claims for service connection for hypertension, warts, and bilateral lower extremity disabilities due to errors in creating an adequate TERA memorandum and failure to obtain a TERA nexus opinion. The VA RO is required to create a new TERA memorandum considering all possible TERAs, including those related to Persian Gulf service, asbestos exposure at Fort McClellan, and the Veteran's MOS. A new TERA nexus opinion must be obtained for each of these disabilities.
- Granted
The Veteran's disability ratings for low back disability and right lower extremity radiculopathy have been reduced from 40% and 10%, respectively, to 20% and 0%. The reduction was based on improvements shown in recent VA examinations.
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